Last night, the (gay) internet unanimously agreed that the first ten minutes of Logo’s fourth annual NewNowNext Awards were already more exciting than all five hours of the Oscars. Hosted by Dawson Leery himself (get it, girl!), the program featured performances by Robyn, electropop group Oh Land, Panic at the Disco, and everyone’s Dinah Shore favorite, Wynter Gordon. They also somehow managed to wrangle an impressive roster of presenters and attendees, including Adam Lambert, Darren Criss, Maya Rudolph, Paula Abdul, the queens from RuPaul’s Drag Race and a pair of gay Angry Birds. Gosh I hope Tom and Katie found time to tune in and support the Beek.

For the second year in a row Autostraddle was not nominated for a #zOMG Internet Award and we won’t stop until we have one on our mantel, damnit.

Anyway, the NNN Awards actually have an impressive track record, having identified Lady Gaga, True Blood and Julie Goldman as Significant Things before they hit the mainstream radar. In fact, the first annual NNN Awards was the site of Gaga’s very first televised performance of “Just Dance” back in May 2008:

And you better believe Gaga remembers performing in that tiny, weirdly lit room in New York City as she gracefully accepted her Lifetime Achievement Award via video.Oh, you read that right. Lifetime Achievement. She’s been around three years.

Backstage footage reveals an exclusive with Adam Lambert who dishes on his Finnish boyfriend, the secret meaning of “slaloming,” other sordid sex acts, and his new album.

Jess is a pop culture junkie living in New York City. She enjoys endless debates about The L Word, Howard Stern, new techy gadgets, DVR, exploring the labyrinth of the Lesbian Internet, memoirs, working out, sushi, making lists, artsy things, anything Lady Gaga touches, traveling, puppies, and nyc in the fall. Find her on Twitter @jessxnyc or via email.

best award show EVER i’ll never watch another one again, till next NNN. the part where dawson leary tells of shangela because he ‘speaks drag’. oh yes. also when johnny weir’s face lights up and he says “sex nugget!”

I love Drag Race and thought the NNN awards were generally quite entertaining (particularly how every shot was filled with awkward audience members standing around), but this moment made me seriously cringe. The so-called “drag” language was nothing more than a stereotypical version of “African American Vernacular English” (google it). While I think Shangela’s act was funnier on the stand-up episode of Drag Race than in the NNN skit, having James Vanderbeek imitate it was just plain offensive and, IMO, reminiscent of blackface.

Unfortunately your logic doesn’t hold up Andrew. Racism = prejudice + power. A member of the marginalized class cannot be “racist.” Also, note that I did not use that word to describe the skit. The intentions of the writers and of James Vanderbeek were almost certainly innocuous, but that doesn’t change the outcome. The value of reappropriation of negative stereotypes and slurs by oppressed groups can be debated, but when it comes to someone with the most privilege available (a white, heterosexual, cisgender male) using them, there really should be no debate.

having covered the NewNowNext awards red carpet twice when it was in NYC, I can say with relative confidence that the winners seem to be at least partially determined by who shows up to the award show, so that there aren’t just a ton of video acceptance speeches

Only watched it because ADAM LAMBERT was presenting … only enjoyed the Drag Queens performance … LOVED seeing GORGEOUS ADAM … all 10 seconds of him. So happy that PH kept his face covered … BEST idea he’s ever had … quite disappointing as award shows go but so were the Grammy’s ….. That’s Entertainment???

Hi Tess! Queenrose here and you KNOW I totally agree with you. It is so damn hard to watch a show where people get on stage to “entertain” or especially SING for us, when we KNOW that the best damn vocalist in ALL of pop and rock is sitting right THERE…in the audience…just watching. That’s like having Freddie Mercury sitting and watching Sugarland or Katy Perry sing and NOT being asked to perform…BOOOOOOOOOO!
But, to be fair, maybe his 19 management don’t want him to perform while he is busy making his sophomore album…I dunno. Just seemed like such a waste of REAL talent! Thanks! ;D

My middle school girlfriend was really into Panic at the Disco. I never like them much until now. (I was really annoyed by how no one ever pronounced the exclamation in Panic! at the Disco, but it seems to have disappeared. That helps.)

So, I realized that aside from the awkward audience members, I forgot to mention my absolute favorite part of the entire show: the Cloe Sevigny impersonator!!! OMG. I was on the floor, it was so dead on. This is all.

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